The advent of digital imaging for the purpose of medical diagnosis has resulted in a variety of scanning systems and image formats. The comparative ease of manipulating these digital images is obviated by problems arising from incompatible software among the various manufacturers of the imaging scanners.
In response to the increase in digital imaging technology, the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) developed the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard. The standard seeks to make uniform the transferring of medical images and information between viewing and scanning sources. The goal of DICOM is to allow users of imaging hardware from different manufacturers to share information.
Despite the creation of the DICOM standard manufacturers have developed proprietary software, and image formats, which complicate the transmission and viewing of digital images that are created on one machine but need to be viewed on another. Modern machines contain a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) which is responsible for the storage and downloading of digital images. Data sent from an incompatible machine which is not in a recognizable format by the receiving machine is not downloaded. The incompatibility is created, not when the image is scanned, but when the information is converted from the scanning source's hard drive by the manufacturer's propriety software.
As a result, Doctors are often unable to view digital images captured by scanning technicians. If the technician reduces the image to a tangible picture the Doctor cannot manipulate the image to zoom in, rotate, or change the contrast of the still image. Furthermore, the process of reducing the images to tangible form is costly in both time and materials.